12 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



movement during the night ; but frequently you hear the noisy whistling of the 

 wings of some belated or disturbed bird, soon followed by the distant splash as 

 it strikes the water again. 



As winter abates and the increasing warmth causes the ice to give way, fol- 

 lowed by the great break-up as the ice goes out, the duck is at its best. The 

 moving ice fields then keep them on the watch, and as the open water they 

 are in narrows, they spring up and fly over the grinding, churning mass, drop 

 into the next clear space upstream. 



The instant they hit the water they go to playing, chasing each other, and 

 diving to great distances. At times a part of the flock will rise and depart 

 for some distant open water, soon followed by others, and then perhaps by the 

 remainder, and that particular place will be deserted by them for the time 

 being. Again they will congregate in an open space with the ice rumbling and 

 roaring around them on all sides, seemingly loath to leave, but when another 

 change takes place in the ice and a block sweeps toward them they are forced 

 to leave. 



Goldeneyes are often common on the larger northern lakes as 

 long as they remain unfrozen; sometimes they are caught in the ice 

 or perish through inability to find open water ; but they are so hardy 

 and such strong fliers that they do not suffer so much in this way as 

 some other species. 



M. P. Skinner has sent me the following notes on the winter habits 

 of the goldeneye in the Yellowstone National Park : 



The goldeneye is a winter visitor in the proportion of one male to three 

 females. Usually these ducks frequent the larger lakes and streams, but I 

 once found some in a pool of Pelican Creek under the lee of a high bank, and 

 frequently on the reservoir Hear Mammoth where they dive for their food. 

 Once I flushed a single bird from an irrigation ditch 6 feet wide. In winter, 

 the only time they are at all common, they frequent the streams (Gardiner, 

 Firehole, and Gibbon Rivers) kept open by hot water from hot springs and 

 geysers. They are seldom seen on shore or standing on stones, although I have 

 seen them on the edge of the ice along the Lamar River. 



These birds are wilder than the more common Barrow goldeneye ; they are 

 here so short a time that they remain exceptions to the general rule that the 

 wildfowl become extremely tame under the absolute protection afforded. When- 

 ever they see me approaching they will swim together in a dense flock. They 

 like swift water and are experts at shooting down the rapids. They are at 

 times associated with buffleheads and mallard ; sometimes this goldeneye and 

 the Barrows are together, but more often the two species keep apart. Possibly 

 rivalry of males extends to their cousins, but this is a weak explanation, for the 

 Barrow males are often amicable among themselves when in small flocks con- 

 taining both sexes. 



The European goldeneye, which is supposed to be subspecifically 

 distinct from our bird, may be added to our list on the strength of 

 the capture of a female, supposed to be of the European race, on 

 St. Paul Island, Alaska, on November 27, 1914, reported by Dr. G, 

 Dallas Hanna (1916). He saj^s of this specimen: 



It is the same size as specimens from the Commander Islands and China ; 

 and while these are somewhat larger than birds from the Atlantic coast region 

 of Europe, they are smaller than those from continental North America. 



